Am.  Jour.  Pharm.) 
March,  1906.  J 
London  Botanic  Gardens. 
113 
earlier  biographical  sketch,  written  by  Professor  Attfield's  old  friend 
and  colleague,  Mr.  Joseph  Ince,  F.L.S.,  author  of  the  well-known 
"  Latin  Grammar  of  Pharmacy."  The  portrait  of  Professor  Attfield 
which  illustrates  this  sketch  was  taken  in  the  autumn  of  1905, 
shortly  after  his  seventieth  birthday. 
LONDON  BOTANIC  GARDENS. 
By  Pierre  Bue  Feux  Perred^s,  B.Sc,  F.L.S., 
Pharmaceutical  Chemist. 
A  Contribution  from  the  Wellcome  Research  Laboratories,  London. 
{Continued from  p.  76.) 
III. 
THE  ROYAL  BOTANIC  SOCIETY'S  GARDENS,  REGENT'S  PARK. 
Regent's  Park  was  opened  in  181 2,  during  the  regency  of  the 
Prince  of  Wales,  afterwards  George  IV,  and  named  "  Regent's  Park  " 
in  his  honor.  The  area  now  belted  by  a  circular  road  known  as  the 
"  Inner  Circle,"  and  consisting  of  over  18  acres  of  ground,  was  not 
included  in  the  plan  for  laying  out  and  planting  the  park,  as  it  was 
the  intention  of  the  Prince  Regent  to  erect  a  royal  palace  on  that 
site.  The  project,  however,  was  never  put  into  execution,  and,  in 
1838,  we  find  that  this  plot  of  ground  was  occupied  by  a  nursery 
garden,  known  as  Jenkins'  Nursery  and  Pleasure  Ground.  Towards 
the  close  of  that  year  several  influential  people  interested  in  botany 
approached  Her  late  Majesty's  commissioners  with  the  object  of 
obtaining  a  lease  of  Jenkins'  Nursery  from  the  Crown,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  converting  it  into  a  combined  ornamental  and  botanic 
garden.  Their  quest  was  successful,  and,  in  1839,  the  Royal  Botanic 
Society  of  London  was  permanently  established,  a  Royal  charter 
being  granted  to  Bernard  Edward,  Duke  of  Norfolk  ;  Charles,  Duke 
of  Richmond ;  William  Charles,  Earl  of  Albemarle ;  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Robert  Rusbrooke  ;  Philip  Barnes  (the  originator  of  the 
scheme)  ;  and  James  de  Carle  Sowerby,  "  for  the  promotion  of  botany 
in  all  its  branches,  and  its  application  to  medicine,  arts,  and  manu- 
factures, and  also  for  the  formation  of  extensive  botanical  and  orna- 
mental gardens  within  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  metropolis." 
The  property,  when  taken  over  by  the  Society,  consisted  of  "  a 
nearly  level  plateau,  only  rising  gently  from  the  circumference  to 
